Knitted wire meshes have been used in the prior art for radio-frequency reflective surfaces in earth satellite applications. For example, the reflector of the Tracking Data Relay Satellite System, and also the Galileo reflector marketed by Harris Corporation of Melborne, Fla., use a wire mesh reflective surface made of gold-plated molybdenum. TRW Corporation has marketed a so-called tulip reflector having a radio-frequency reflective surface made of a welded-wire fabric comprising filaments made of stainless steel and silver.
Knitted wire meshes of the prior art have exhibited a phenomenon known as "pillowing" when subjected to biaxial loads applied over curved frameworks. "Pillowing" of a mesh is a distortion characterized by bulges (or "pillows") that occur in the mesh due to mechanical strain. "Pillowing" in a knitted wire mesh used as a radio-frequency reflective surface generally degrades performance, and causes side lobes of radio-frequency energy reflected from the mesh.
Knitted wire meshes used as radio-frequency reflective surfaces in the prior art have also exhibited significant intermodulation products at knit junctions of the meshes. Intermodulation products generally cause excessively high noise levels in radio-frequency receiving channels. Many presently operating satellite systems (e.g., INMARSAT, INTELSAT and COMMSAT) have such high noise levels attributable to intermodulation products that operational capabilities of receiving channels are seriously impaired.